


Networking

by TheBasilRathbone



Category: Emma Approved, Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Genre: Bad First Impressions, Crossover, F/M, First Impressions, New Media, dizzie is emma approved, emma approved - Freeform, lizzie and darcy meet emma approved, pemberly digital
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-07-12 12:16:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15995048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBasilRathbone/pseuds/TheBasilRathbone
Summary: Darcy, trapped at a new media networking event, manages to insult yet another woman with his lack of social skills.





	Networking

Who knew that a bunch of tech nerds were so into partying?

It wasn't really her scene, but if she was going to try and get these videos off the ground, she'd need to network at media conferences just like this. Not to mention she'd been hired to throw the evening's more casual after-hours party. 

Alex was off somewhere, probably networking or chatting with somebody about accounting or something else equally boring. And now she had no one to talk to. 

At least there was someone else lurking along the sidelines like her, obviously not too eager to join the fray of nerdy shop-talk. He was tall, dark, and handsome, not to mention well-dressed (if a bit too hipster for her tastes), and looked to be drinking whiskey or rum without a mixer. Very sophisticated. And no ring.  Just her type, if she weren't already in a committed relationship. But hey, it never hurt to have a few handsome contacts at her disposal for busy ladies who needed a last-minute date to an event, right? Who would want to be her matchmaking client if she didn't have a plethora of gorgeous people on her contact list? 

"Not much of a party type?" she asked, sending him a professional but friendly smile. 

Instead of responding with an equally friendly reply, or even  _smiling,_ he just took another sip of his drink. "No."

Hmph. "It's got to be better than the conference, though, right?"

"Not especially," Mr. Sour-Face said curtly. Wow, what a downer. No wonder he was in the corner by himself. "These events are a waste of time."

"They're for _networking_. To get to know people and gain contacts," she replied, keeping her sugary working-voice on point. 

"I'd rather judge my potential business associates on the products they deliver, not on who can do a keg stand and make the biggest fool of themselves."

 _Wow._ First of all, a keg stand? What kind of party did he take this for? She planned events, not college frat nights. What a snob! 

"Well, clearly you're the only one that feels that way," she responded, gesturing to the mass of people actually enjoying themselves.

He shrugged. "Or perhaps the ones who agree with me had the sense to not show up."

"Then why are you even here?!"

"Emma!" The familiar scolding voice of Alex Knightley startled her out of her fuming state. "Yelling at people isn't really a good way to make contacts."

Mr. Sour-Face seemed to be startled out of his pissy mood, though by her or by Alex she wasn't sure, and had the gaul to look a bit sheepish. He shifted his glass to the other palm to receive Alex's handshake. 

"Alex Knightly. I work for Emma Approved."

"William Darcy. Pemberly Digital." Oh shit! Pemberly? Oh God, she had put her foot in it. How could _this_ guy be the one who worked for one of the most successful new media companies in California? Possibly the United States? Maybe even beyond that, she had sort of left most of the boring research up to Alex...

"Pleasure to meet you," Alex said calmly. After a long moment, "this is Emma Woodhouse." 

Oh. Right. "Pleasure to meet you," Darcy said, shaking her hand as well. "Woodhouse, did you say? Any relation to Henry Woodhouse?"

"My father," she replied, biting back shame. Pemberly was one of the companies she had contacted and was waiting to hear back. So much for that. "You know him?"

"He's an investor in Pemberly. I haven't met him personally, but he's always been pleasant during our business communications."

There's a moment of awkward silence. Rarely was Emma Woodhouse speechless, but after she had put her foot in it, she had trouble recovering. Darcy didn't seem like he was much of a conversationalist, and Alex had the unfortunate habit of mistaking all silences for comfortable silences. I mean, she loved the guy, but honestly. There was such a thing as too socially relaxed. Besides, Darcy really had been a douche. In her defence. 

Just as she was about to open her mouth to try and find a way to jump ship, another person suddenly entered their little circle of hellish discomfort. She might have used it as a chance to slip away with her tail between her legs, but she was too mesmerized to look away. A cute redhead (not supermodel gorgeous but still someone that would get a lot of interest from her male clients) appeared at his side, handed him a replacement drink, and  _wrapped an arm around his waist._

"Sorry," she apologized, pulling an exaggerated face and then relaxing into his side. "Am I interrupting?"

"Only me making everyone here uncomfortable," Darcy said, and Emma had to consciously fight raising an eyebrow at the sudden change in his demeanor. Self-deprecation was a good look on anyone, especially somebody as stiff and seemingly unpleasant as him. But he looked down lovingly at Red and then put an arm around her shoulders. Well done Mr. Darcy. "Lizzie, this is Emma Woodhouse and Alex Knightley, they run Emma Approved. This is Lizzie Bennet, she founded WPF Productions."

"WPF?" Alex asked with interest.

"White Picket Fence. WPF for short. Kind of an inside joke between me and my mother," Lizzie joked, warmly shaking both of their hands before nudging Darcy in the ribs. "You were making them uncomfortable? I can't leave you alone for a second."

"I begged you not to. I need social supervision." Lizzie laughed brightly, and Emma is a bit startled at how sour-puss' entire body seems to relax into her side. Maybe he wasn't a douche after all, maybe he really was just shy. Like, cripplingly shy.

"Hm. See, I'm the opposite. I think I'm fine in social situations, but Emma is always quick to assure me otherwise," Alex joked. Oh, she loved him. Drawing her back into the conversation by lobbing her the softball prompt, the perfect opportunity to tease him and set her at ease? He could play her like a violin, that man. 

"It's not your social skills that need work, it's your first impression. I mean, look at your khakis. It's a party!" She slapped his arm playfully.

"Khakis can be party-appropriate!"

"Not with that sweater."

"What's wrong with this sweater?"

She rolled her eyes dramatically before turning to Lizzie. "Did you dress him this morning?" she asked gesturing to Darcy. The man actually blushed. 

"Oh, no," she grinned. "The well-dressed hipster vibe is all his own doing. I'm the one who has to step up my fashion game. It's a nightmare! Not to mention his sister always looks chic and  _my_ sister is a fashion designer in New York and herhusband dresses like the spouse of a fashion designer. Every time we all go out I look like that down-on-her-luck friend who can never quite get her act together."

Alex clinked his glass against Lizzie's. "Ah. In solidarity, then. To the unfashionable halves of a couple. It's a long row to hoe."

"I'll drink to that." This time, Darcy rolled his eyes, though the fondness was unmistakable. She felt a bit bad for misjudging him, but then again, she did have a knack for reading people poorly. As she had discovered. 

"So are you more the party-type of the two of you?" Emma asked, having to raise her voice as the music suddenly explodes in volume. The party-nerds were getting serious, now. "Mr. Darcy has just been telling us how much he hates them."

Emma had the satisfaction of seeing Darcy blush, but Lizzie only grinned. "I'm not a big party-girl, either. I'd rather be in pajamas whenever humanly possible. But Will's better when he's had more than four hours' sleep in the last forty-eight hours."

"Four hours? Ugh, that's awful!" 

He gave her a small smile. "I had an emergency trip to London, I just got back for the conference." Lizzie nodded as though to back up his story, and her hand strayed to his back to rub soothingly up and down his spine. Okay, the two of them were just too cute.

"Speaking of which, are you alright? Do you want to grab a seat?"

"I'm fine," he assured. "Probably best if I stay standing, or you'll be dragging my unconscious body back to the room."

"And it's my fault for keeping him up," Lizzie explained guiltily. "A friend of mine was here earlier and just left. In my defence, I did tell him he could go back to the hotel and crash."

"But he was a good boyfriend and wanted to spend time with you! So sweet. Take notes, Alex."

He scoffed. "Not a chance. I would have been in bed hours ago." She wrinkled her nose at him, and he smiled and tapped the end of it with his finger playfully. 

Pleased with herself, she turned her attention back to her guests. "Well, I hope it's all worth it if you got some networking done!"

"WPF is actually one of the companies who's putting the conference on," Lizzie shouted over the background noise. "Networking is easier when you have everybody's company name and contact information from their registration."

"Oh!" Oops. Bit unprofessional to be flirting with her boyfriend right in front of potential partners. Shoot!  _She_ was supposed to be networking, too. "What does your company do?"

"Mostly finding and fostering online talent. Developing web series, supporting new media sites, that sort of thing." Darcy looked like he was trying to be interested, but it wasn't convincing. Ten minutes ago she might have brushed it off as conceited, but now she could see he was dead on his feet. Poor guy. "What about you?"

"Oh, I've been filming the work around my company and editing them into short videos. Lifestyle coaching, matchmaking, event planning. Slice-of-life kind of stuff, with a lot of new people coming in and out, clients, to keep it interesting. Company CEOs, senators, charity organizers. All sorts. We've averaged about two hundred-thousand views per episode. We've gotten a lot of interest from companies, but they don't seem to quite know what to do with us. 'Web series reality television' isn't really a category they know how to work with." It was a pitch casually made, she'd done it without batting an eye, but she had spent three hours being coached by Alex for that little pitch on exactly what to say and how to spark the interest of investors and partners.  _Tell them who we are, what we do, our viewership, what we need help with._

And Lizzie seemed sparked. Darcy looked like he'd rather light himself on fire than consult a lifestyle coach, but Lizzie was already digging out a business card from her pocket. Score. "Networking event, right?" she said with a laugh, handing one over. "Excellent pitch, I'm definitely interested. Send me a link to the videos and then give me a call, maybe we can set up a meeting. I already have some ideas, but I'd like to get to know you and what you do first, see if WPF is a good match for you."

Emma flipped her hair over her shoulder and tried not to squeal. "I definitely will, thank you." She opened her purse and carefully set the card inside. "I'm already excited."

"Me too." Lizzie smiled warmly at her and Alex before turning her attention back to Darcy. "Should I take you back and put you to bed?"

"One dance, first," he replied, setting his empty glass, and Lizzie's, on the tray of a passing waiter. "It was a pleasure to meet you Miss Woodhouse, Mr. Knightley."

They all shook hands again like respectable people before Darcy led Lizzie onto the dance floor by the hand. She watched after them before turning her gaze back to Alex. 

"She liked my pitch, did you hear that?" he preened, and she couldn't help but sandwich his face between her hands and drag him down for a kiss. 

"Excellent coaching skills, Mr. Knightley. Maybe you should start up your own business-consulting company."

"Mm, sounds like that would require a suit and tie. Maybe I'll just stick to your company and my khakis."

She sighed, clasping her hands behind his neck. "Ugh. Don't remind me. I'll get you into a tux yet. Tom Ford. Oo, I'm seeing navy velvet..."

"That is already too fashion forward for me," he laughed before nodding his head towards the dance floor. "For a severely sleep-deprived man, he sure is a good dancer."

"They are too cute," she agreed. "Not to mention a crazy-influential media power-couple. Talk about a good match! And without even needing my help."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that." He was silent until her pointed look urged him on. "Didn't you read  _any_ of the research sheets I printed out for you? None of them?"

"Alex!"

He sighed. "WPF Productions was founded by Lizzie Bennet. She had this crazy-successful web series, like a video diary, and she recorded the events of her life for a year. It covered her time meeting Darcy and they did  _not_ get off to a good start."

"I can see why, he's garbage at introductions."

He gave her a chastising look. "Anyways, right out of grad school she launched her company and moved to San Francisco with Darcy. WPF has been gaining ground ever since."

"Female CEO? That's what I like to hear!" she cheered. 

"You actually have a connection. The fashion-designer sister? You've met her sister-in-law."

"I have?"

"Yeah. She's married to Bing Lee, whose sister is Caroline Lee."

It took her a minute, but it came screaming back to her like an oncoming train. "Oh my God, seriously?"

"Yeah, she had a real thing for Darcy, apparently."

"Yikes. He certainly dodged a bullet. What an upgrade!" She glanced over her shoulder, but Lizzie and Darcy had disappeared, either into the crowd or out the exit. "That girl would never have the gall to ask me for a macrobiotic dessert for her wedding. He's bad at parties, but he sure has good taste. I mean, how cute were they? And look at you, Mr. Knightley! Spreading all that gossip."

He huffed. "It isn't really gossip when millions of people have seen the whole thing online."

"Still." She turned again. The dance floor was less crowded, but those using it were still going hard. "How long do you think these nerds will dance before calling it a night? I'm exhausted."

"These 'nerds' are people in your industry, now, be nice. And could be a while. How about I grab drinks and you grab us a table?"

She brought her hands over her heart. "My hero."


End file.
